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Legoland stays firm on MRDF private booking

Legoland stays firm on MRDF private booking

Categories: Latest News

Saturday February 22 2014

The local paper, Windsor Express, returns to the subject of the Muslim Research and Development Foundation’s private hire of Legoland with a story proclaiming that the theme park “has confirmed it has no intention to cancel plans to privately hire the park to a Muslim foundation led by one of the top 25 hate preachers in Britain.”

The newspaper claims that Haitham al-Haddad, of the MRDF, “was identified by the government last year as being one of Britain’s top 25 hate preachers.”

It is quite remarkable how the notion of Haddad being “one of Britain’s top 25 hate preachers” has begun circulating with no regard for the provenance and accuracy of the claim.

The Sunday Times in an article published last December stated: “Security officials have identified a network of 25 hate clerics who face being silenced under anti-extremism “Asbos” demanded by Downing Street.

“One of those said by Whitehall sources to be the subject of scrutiny is Haitham al-Haddad, a controversial London-based Islamic scholar of Palestinian origin.”

There is no identification of the ‘Whitehall sources’ behind the claims. As for Haddad’s being a ‘subject of scrutiny’, what merit there is in the exercise will be determined when (if?) greater transparency by the Communities and Local Government and Home Office departments is forthcoming as to the basis of identifying and classifying the said 25 as ‘hate preachers’. From past experiences of seeking transparency on aspects of the Government’s counter-terrorism efforts, the outlook is not good.

The lack of transparency goes some way to explaining how the concept of ‘hate preacher’ gains currency at the expense of those Muslims, like Haddad, who find themselves the victims of illiberal campaigns aimed at intimidation and character assassination.

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